Chron weighs in on Palco bankruptcy

The fabled Pacific Lumber redwood company is teetering in a billion-dollar bankruptcy in a Texas courtroom, some 1,800 miles from its foggy stands of primeval trees near Humboldt Bay.

It may sound like an ignoble end to a woodsy soap opera that's featured tree sitters, a corporate raider and $500 million in government payouts to forestall chain-sawing many of the world's oldest, tallest trees.

But the court proceedings may produce a remarkable result: a revival of logging on terms that both environmentalists and timber firms can accept. Jobs, thriving forests, regulatory precautions - all the issues that bedevil the timber industry and its critics - could be worked out in a new way.